Eyes On Retirement

Be greedy in times of fear. That's the investment mantra I live by. Recently there's been a huge spat on trade wars and the Hong Kong riots, which took a toll on the stock markets.  This was a great opportunity to load up on my existing positions as their prices have come down to more favorable levels. There no reason to explore other stocks unless a super attractive opportunity arises, like hongkongland. That counter was hit extremely hard by the riots, since they derive 50% of their revenues from HK.  Other than such events where opportunities present itself, I prefer to average up or down into my existing positions... No need to perform the due diligence again, unless fundamentals have changed. I'm enjoying the opportunities that the markets are presenting in the past few months.  Simply keep calm and aim to collect more dividends by increasing your stake when frivolous sentiment changes. Market entry is a psychological battle against yourself. Another post on this ...

Last month, I decided to top up my CPF Special Account since that account gives me 4% yield risk free. My calculations show that I can reduce my tax bill by $7k x 15% = $1050, without even taking into account future 4% yield benefits i'm to receive. It's definitely worth the top up from an ROI point of view, since it's tough to guarantee this kind of return in today's market. There is a maximum cap for cash top-up relief per Year of Assessment (YA) which is $14,000 (Self $7,000 and family members $7,000), but at least max it out for yourself if you have the spare cash. This way you can quickly hit the CPF SA ceiling sooner, maximizing the 4% risk free yield early on. Will do it again for FY2019.

We have a spare apartment in Punggol for my parents to stay when they visited, and it's empty about 90% of the time.  Decided to rent out the room that they aren't staying in for extra income. I entrusted an agent to handle the process for me, gave him a 2 key requirements, no pets, no smokers, and began my travels.  He found a tenant quickly at $1250/month, and I agreed for her to commence the contract in 2 days (while I was still away).  I only returned 2 weeks after she moved in. Lesson #1: Get involved in the tenant selection process. The agent's job is to find the tenant. As the owner, you have to meet the prospective tenant and judge suitability and rent payment reliability. When i returned and visited the apartment, I realize the tenant smokes, keeps 2 small dogs and she installed items in the living room which was outside of the contract's stipulated room rental.  The agent clearly didn't check for my 2 key requirements and was only keen on securing his...

Astrea IV is a wholly owned subsidiary of Azalea Asset Management Pte. Ltd, which is wholly owned by Temasek Holdings. They are issuing bonds for their private equity funds, so this is the first time the retail market has access to the private equity space.  BOND DETAILS Name: Class A-1 Bonds 10NC5 Interest: 4.35% pa, semi annual payment. If not redeemed after 5 yrs on Jun 2023, will step up to 5.35% pa Maturity: 10 yrs, on 14th Jun 2028 with scheduled call date on 14th Jun 2023. "Scheduled" is not "optional". If there is sufficient cash set aside for the class A bond to be redeemed, it must be redeemed. It's not an option. Application for IPO: Min $2k, with integral multiples of $1k thereafter Period of application for IPO: 6th Jun 2018 9am to 12 Jun 2018 12 pm Rating:  A by Fitch, and A by S&P Extra features: There is a bonus redemption premium of an amount not exceeding 0.5% of the principal amount. This means that if the par value if $1.000, the ...